How long do you think B&W papers will be available?

Well said Bruce. Perhaps when the penny drops about the limited life of digital generally, there will be a massive reversal of the digital hype!

g0tr00t said:

Forever. ....

Click to expand...

A contrarian view:

We are in the best - not the worst - time for analog photography - ever.

We have an incredible array of film and cameras and optics - the best ever available - from revived old time films with properties like super double x... all the way to t-grain films.

There's been what? 3? 4? generations of improved LF optics since I got my first convertible Symmar something like 30 years ago.

Supplies and information are more accessible now than ever before - especially for alternative processes.

We never before had the option to combine analog and digital processes. Enlarged negs for huge contact prints? Easier with digital output.

Optics are better. Schneider has just come out with the XXL optics for ULF work. I would assume they are wonderful glass.

Yes, many older items have become unavailable, but a lot of new items for fine arts photographers have come onto the market.

When before has there been anything like the current availability of new high quality LF cameras? Never. Many of the brands I can buy now just didn't exist when I started photographing.

I think the materials now available are a reflection of the greater interest in LF and alternative process work as artistic tools. Digital is clearly the winning choice on the quicker is better front. Film/analog gives more options when ultimate quality is the criteria.

C

Think about it.

C

Now, that I think about it, the whole story of photography reminds me of the argentinian dance of tango.
It was born of humble parents and it was not accepted in the high society.
Until it was taken, bastardised and changed to fit the very different needs of people who did not know how to dance. Like dilluted wine.
It was almost forgotten then out of sudden a new generation of dancers revived it and now it thrives again.

All we need is a solar flare that disrupts electronics for about 1 hour during a popular event. You will see the masses converting....

g0tr00t said:

All we need is a solar flare that disrupts electronics for about 1 hour during a popular event. You will see the masses converting....

Click to expand...

Or some nuclear weapondry with enough EMP to destroy every computer and digital camera on the planet.

Or maybe not.

EricR said:

The reality of our lives these days seems to be the shrinking supply of available B&W papers. Especially quality FB paper.

Put your googles on and stare into the future. Realistically speaking just how long do you think we will be able to purchase B&W FB paper?

Click to expand...

It's not a function of anything but plain old demand & supply.

The price may get astronomical (tried to buy 127 or 6x9cm film lately?) but the product will always be there, produced by someone who can make a profit.

Worse comes to worst, we (as photographers) can go back to sensitizing our own papers again.

It may be science, but it isn't rocket science.

zenrhino said:

The price may get astronomical (tried to buy 127 or 6x9cm film lately?) but the product will always be there, produced by someone who can make a profit.

Click to expand...

127 film today is less than $5 a roll. 6x9 film is less than $7 a box of 25. If you do a CPI calculation of the prices of these items in 1960 and compare you will find that they are about the same after inflation.

Forever seems optimistic but then our entire society is built on optimism(your retirement savings in the stock market)!
I decided to stay analog for several reasons.
I like the darkroom experience and hate computer screens.
The $1500.00 state of the art 1.5 megapixel camera I bought a few years ago annoys me every time I look at it.
Our wedding photos are now 40 years old- on Brovira stipple from a Rolleiflex and look like they were taken yesterday. The same photographer is a dear friend and recently did our daughter's wedding and produced volumes of semi digital colour prints which I'm sure won't be around long.

It is ironic though that despite the profusion of good papers manufactured I bought the last box of FB paper in the entire city last weekend.

I am sorry I didn't freeze some Portriga Rapid and glad that I did freeze a hundred or so rolls of 127 VP

enough rambling

Mark

Mark Layne said:

The $1500.00 state of the art 1.5 megapixel camera I bought a few years ago annoys me every time I look at it.

Click to expand...

The way you worded that made me laugh.

EricR said:

The reality of our lives these days seems to be the shrinking supply of available B&W papers. Especially quality FB paper.

Put your googles on and stare into the future. Realistically speaking just how long do you think we will be able to purchase B&W FB paper?

Click to expand...

Well, Printing-Out Paper is still available commercially after better than a hundred years of use; I suspect that silver gelatin paper will do at least as well as that.

Well, if I keep on spending more time travelling and buying paper than printing -my supplies will stay for ever. Like Argenta paper from Munich, old Orwo (only 3'' wide), old Agfa Record ...
On special occasions I use some of these papers for good friends, telling them: "Even if you get divorced, keep the prints, this paper went out of production some twenty years ago..."
Please pardon me, I'm off to place an order on Kentmere papers with Retro...

Wolfram

I vote forever. Just read an interesting article in the N.Y. Times on digital storeage and its problems,called Even digital memories can fade 11-10-04.Since digital has these problems that they can't seem to fix and the fact that there is vary little profit in digital and a lot of profit in anolog, I think there will always be film and paper available because ther will be always enough peaple that enjoy the wet darkroom .

Digital technology will be a shot in the arm

As is being discussed in the enlarging forum...the advent of digital enlargers with the ability to print from digital image-files and that they will (in time) become commonplace and be reasonably affordable...this should help the fiber cause significantly...